A sign outside a sporting goods store in Batavia, N.Y., refers to a statement by Gov. Andrew Cuomo - "No one needs 10 bullets to kill a deer." The governor pushed through the N.Y. SAFE Act gun control law as an emergency bill with no hearings, no testimony and no time for opponents to make a case to their legislators.

Civilian passengers of the Airbus A330 Zero-G enjoy the feeling of weightlessness during the first zero-gravity flight for paying passengers in Europe. The thrill did not come cheap - each spent about $7,800 for the flight.

Archaeologists work to uncover skeletons from what is believed to be a mass grave for victims of the Black Death in London. Bones were discovered during excavations to create a Crossrail tunnel shaft under Charterhouse Square. So far 13 skeletons have been exhumed.

As if tying one's foot to the top of a steep pole isn't enough, Indian army soldiers must also spit fire when they perform the mallakhamb, a traditional gymnastic sport, during a skills display at Officers Training Academy in Chennai.

The wreckage of a double-decker bus carrying a church group lies on the side of a highway after crashing in the mountainous Hex River pass near Cape Town. Rescue teams used a crane to lift the bus and cut away bodywork to extract trapped victims. Twenty-four people were killed and 45 injured.

Illinois Department of Natural Resources workers load discarded Christmas trees onto a boat on Rend Lake near Benton. More than 300 trees were being dumped into the lake to provide cover and feeding grounds for fish.

It's still green! Maybe I should save it for next Christmas:... Photo-4330969.58485 - Houston Chronicle

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Christo's gas bag:

Journalists film the installation of artist Christo's "Big Air Package," a huge bag inside the Oberhausen Gasometer storage tank in Oberhausen, Germany. The sculpture is an inflatable envelope made of translucent white polyester rising 295 feet from the floor. Air fans keep it upright.